Thursday, June 8, 2017, 1:32PM

Boston Shamrocks Greet Team Pacific Before Their Atlantic Invitational Game.

By James Murphy

The weather may be finally changing to summer like temps in the Greater Boston area but before it stopped feeling like hockey season in June, the Shamrocks actually got some hockey in as they hosted the Atlantic Invitational at Ristuccia Arena in Wilmington, MA June 3-4. The host team went 1-1-1 with some really positive signs for new head coach and Director Of Hockey Operations, Sean Fisher.

"I was quite happy with the weekend," Fisher said. "As a team we had three competitive games, and allowed our players to showcase themselves in front of many NCAA coaches who were in attendance."

The Shamrocks had a double-header Saturday, beating Pacific AAA 3-2 and then tying New England Hockey Club 1-1. In the win, the Shamrocks were able to overcome a short bench and come from behind and win with two goals from Julia Masotta who scored the game-tying and game-winning goals. Ava Hills was solid between the net in the win. In tie with NEHC, Kasey Libby got the call between the pipes and also was solid giving her team a chance to win. But unfortunately - and despite Shea Varrier being a scoring threat every shift she took - Boston could only muster one goal, with Cassidy Grunning lighting the lamp.

On Sunday, the Shamrocks took on the highly skilled NEWHL Juniors and fell just short in a 4-3 loss. Kaleigh Cadorette showed plenty of promise in the defeat, playing strong in all three zones. Despite the loss and the win, tie, loss sequence of results, Fisher saw improvement as the weekend went on.

"Although the scores might not reflect it, I think we got better as the weekend went on," he said. "Our younger players showed that they can compete against top players 2 & 3 years older then them, so there were lots of positives to take away from the weekend. Our 2017-18 rostered players will get back on the ice 2-3 times a week as we prepare for the Women's Beantown Classic at the end of July."